CORE B - This program project will investigate the effects of thoracic level spinal cord transection on lower urinary tract dysfunction using various animal models based on C57BL/10 mice (Projects 1, 2 and 3) and Sprague Dawley rats (Project 4). These models include spinal cord transected, pudendal nerve cut and ureter diverted adult mice or rats, neonatal rats and matched controls. The different projects will also use models and controls where the bladder, dorsal root ganglia or striated external urethral sphincter is injected with pseudorabies virus (PRV) linked with the genetically encoded Ca2+-indicator, GCaMP4, or GFP or RFP fluorescent indicators. PRV only transfects nerves and, depending upon the viral strain, is transported by the afferent or efferent nerves to dorsal root ganglia or spinal motoneurons in only a retrograde direction, or both retrograde and anteriograde directions. Within the spinal cord, PRV crosses synapses and is transported transneuronally in a retrograde manner to interneurons located at upstream sites on reflex pathways Animal Core B will secure and maintain the animals for the different projects. Animal orders, surgeries, postoperative care and record keeping will be carried out by the fulltime Assistant Core Director. The optimal animal numbers for each set of experiments have been determined and will continue to be adjusted with the assistance of the program's experienced statistician and his assistant. Thus, the animal core will offer the advantages of reproducibility, ease of data comparison across projects and time- and cost-effectiveness. These advantages will be further enhanced by the different projects using multiple tissues from the same animals. Animal Core B will closely interact with Imaging Core A and the project directors to effectively schedule animal preparation and usage.